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We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

The Judicial & Legal Services Directorate is recruiting permanently for two HEO roles. This campaign is open to current civil servants (on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion) and external candidates. 

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

1. 102 Petty France, London
2. 5 Wellington Place, Leeds (occasional travel between Leeds and London may be required post Covid-19) 

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job-share
• Flexible working patterns
• Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.

At the moment the majority of our staff are currently working from home due to Covid-19 

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

Job Description overview

The role is a key member of the team with responsibility for developing and delivering policies in respect of magistrate recruitment and attraction. In addition to working on policy development and delivery, the successful applicant will be involved in the planning and programming of work, including commissioning progress updates and recording and escalating delays and risks.

The role will also support work on international judicial policy, for example by supporting policy development relating to recruitment of next UK judge to the European Court of Human Rights; and will liaise closely with Judicial Office and HMCTS colleagues to inform commissions relating to judicial training and judicial appointments in the international context; and to help manage litigation. 

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MOJ is one of the largest government departments, employing around 70,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £9 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales. 

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice 

What we do

The role sits in the Judicial Policy Resourcing and Engagement Division, which is part of the Judicial and Legal Services Policy Directorate and is made up of four divisions each headed by a Deputy Director.  Three divisions are directly related to Judicial Policy and in combination coordinate and support Government’s engagement with the judiciary, including leading on supporting the Lord Chancellor’s important relationship with the judiciary. We also cover a wide range of policy issues related to the ways in which judges and magistrates are recruited, remunerated and supported. Our work is of central importance to ministers and the Department as we contribute to the MoJ’s objective of upholding the rule of law and defending the independence of the judiciary. 

The Magistrates and International Judicial Policy team is responsible for the development and delivery a large programme of work to improve magistrate recruitment and attraction. This is focused on recruiting more magistrates and more diverse magistrates to help to meet increased demand on the justice system. The team is responsible for advising Ministers and Senior Judiciary on the progress of the programme.

We also have a fundamental role in supporting planning activity in relation to questions which arise in the international context on the role of the judiciary. This can relate to international judicial appointments or has more recently focussed on judicial preparedness for EU exit. 

Key requirements (role specific – see below) 

Magistrates and International Judicial Policy HEO X1 Role

The postholder will work closely with HMCTS, Judicial Office, the senior judiciary, policy teams across MoJ, lawyers and analysts to help develop and deliver policies in relation to magistrate recruitment and attraction. This will include attendance and participation in planning meetings to monitor progress of the programme as well as commissioning papers for meetings with stakeholders and senior officials who are responsible for oversight of the programme. The postholder will be responsible for commissioning progress updates and escalating risks and delays appropriately to ensure the programme remains on track. 

The post-holder will also be responsible for updating and maintaining the Lord Chancellor’s directions to Advisory Committees which set out the framework for magistrate recruitment. The role involves assisting with the process to reform magistrate recruitment with specific initiatives currently ongoing including:

• Digitalising and streamlining the magistrate recruitment process
• Implementation of an equal merits policy for the magistracy
• Eligibility criteria to the magistracy
• Mandatory retirement age 

The postholder will also be responsible for supporting international judicial policy development. A key area of focus in the coming months will be to develop the policy surrounding the appointment of the next UK judge to the European Court of Human Rights and, in addition to liaising with MoJ Policy Teams and Judicial Office will involve working closely with the devolved administrations to ensure the appropriate solution is workable across the three legal jurisdictions of the UK. The postholder will also be responsible for managing commissions in relation to judicial training and judicial appointment in an international context. 

For these areas of work the post-holder will be required to:

• Work with the team to identify, plan out and get agreement to the issues that need to be addressed to provide interim and longer term solutions;
• Help to define the issues that need addressing into clear workstreams with owners, deliverables and deadlines to form part of a package of agreed measures that can be implemented;
• Work with the team to deliver robust and deliverable policy solutions, actively involving partners (the Judiciary, leadership magistrates, Judicial Office, HMCTS, MOJ HR and Lawyers) through collaboration that achieves better results and ensuring alignment with other ongoing judicial policy work; and
• Manage stakeholder communications, building effective relationships with the offices of the Senior Judiciary, magistrates, government colleagues and the Lord Chancellor. 

The work is fast moving, varied and interesting including contact with Ministers, who take a genuine interest in our work, senior officials, senior judiciary and other stakeholders. The post will provide good developmental opportunities as you will also be expected to contribute to the team’s other priorities, working with analysts, finance and HMCTS colleagues to ensure that other judicial policy projects are delivered. You will also be expected to get involved in other key aspects of judicial policy work including briefings to ministers and senior officials, answers to parliamentary questions and correspondence. 

Judicial Engagement and Resourcing Strategy HEO X1 Role

Plays a key role in supporting the engagement between Government and the Senior Judiciary to achieve shared objectives; including the recruitment and retention of a high quality, diverse range of Judicial Office Holders. 

Reporting to the Band B Senior Policy Adviser, the successful candidate will manage and drive judicial engagement with Ministers and MoJ Senior Leaders, working across the Department and developing close working relationships with Private Offices.

Main Activities

The successful candidate will have responsibilities across the following areas:

• Engagement: Ensuring Ministers and MoJ Leaders are provided with high quality briefings for meetings with Senior Judiciary and other events as required, working closely with Private Offices. Developing and maintaining systems to keep track of the range of judicial meetings to ensure quality briefings are delivered in a timely fashion.
• Policy: Providing advice to MoJ teams and OGDs on judicial engagement, the role of the Lord Chancellor and his statutory responsibilities. Leading on providing responses to the range of ministerial correspondence including Parliamentary Questions and Commons/Lords Orals. Developing and taking forward judicial engagement training across MoJ, ensuring guidance is kept up to date and maintained. Providing secretariat functions for a range of judicial meetings/forums. Providing briefings and minutes of other events as required. Supporting delivery of the Judicial Engagement Strategy to maximise opportunity for constructive engagement between the Lord Chancellor, Ministers, MoJ Leaders and the Judiciary.
• Judicial Resourcing Strategy: Supporting judicial resource planning by maintaining evidence on the needs and outcomes of the Judicial Resourcing Programme. Working across Judicial Policy teams to support advice to the Lord Chancellor on recruitment exercises and terms of appointment for individual exercises.
• Supporting the wider Judicial Policy Directorate: Providing a point of contact to develop and maintain the Judicial Policy knowledge base. Maintaining and managing the Directorate’s Judicial Policy mailbox.

We are looking for an individual with:

• Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills, able to work at pace and be flexible to successfully manage competing priorities.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with a broad range of partners.
• Experience of leading others by influencing and working collaboratively.
• The ability to provide clear, evidenced briefing on complex policy areas to senior stakeholders and Ministers.
• Experience/interest in working on policy development and the ability to see the wider strategic picture.

Skills and Experience (both roles) 

As the work is fast-paced and evolving you will be a confident self-starter who can constantly face new challenges to progress your work, with excellent communication and inter-personal skills to work with internal and external colleagues to develop solutions to problems.  In addition, you will have: 

• Excellent written skills and numerical skills, with experience in using data to inform your work.
• Ability to make sound judgements and provide well-articulated advice.
• The ability to manage a varied workload, and to identify priorities proactively.
• Excellent IT skills. 

It is desirable for candidates to also have experience of working in a project management environment. 

Application process (both roles)

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework. 

Behaviours

Please provide examples of how you have met each one of the behaviours listed below (see Annex A for more information). You should also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade (Level 3 – HEO or equivalent):

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf 

Managing a Quality Service

• Work with stakeholders to set priorities, objectives and timescales
• Successfully deliver high quality outcome that meet the customer’s needs and give value for money
• Identify risks and resolve issues efficiently 

Seeing the Big Picture

• Be alert to emerging issues and trends which might impact, or benefit own and team’s work
• Develop an understanding of own area’s strategy and how this contributes to Departmental priorities
• Ensure own area/team activities are aligned to Departmental priorities 

Making Effective Decisions

• Identify a range of relevant and credible information sources and recognise the need to collect new data when necessary from internal and external sources
• Invite challenge and where appropriate involve others in decision making to help build engagement and present robust recommendations 

Communicating and Influencing

• Encourage the use of different communication methods, including digital resources, highlighting the benefits
• Share information as appropriate and check understanding
• Ensure that important messages are communicated with colleagues and stakeholders respectfully, taking into consideration the diversity of the interests 

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Managing a Quality Service. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

 Candidates invited to Interview

You will be required to give a 5-minute presentation at interview. Details of this will be sent to those candidates who are invited for interview.  Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely. During the interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours and Strengths from the success Profiles framework. 

Interviews are expected to take place in August 2021. 

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description. 

Contact information  

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.

Joanne Davies (Magistrates and International Judicial Policy)

Joanne.Davies4@justice.gov.uk

07870 983128 

David O’Shea (Judicial Engagement and Resourcing Strategy)

David.Oshea@justice.gov.uk

07976 633849